Delhi MPs, MLAs meet Hooda to resolve Munak canal issue

A group of MPs and MLAs from Delhi met Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to resolve the deadlock over the commissioning of Munak Canal. The meeting comes at a time when the national Capital is reeling under an acute water shortage due to a breach in the Upper Ganga canal, near Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh.

East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit, West Delhi MP Mahabal Mishra, South Delhi MP Ramesh Kumar and a number of legislators met Hooda, expressing their concern over the delay in commissioning of the canal, which has been affecting water supply to a large section of Delhi's population.

"We have requested the Haryana Chief Minister to resolve the issue soon so that the water problem can be solved. There are a number of people from Haryana who work and live in Delhi and, therefore, additional water from the canal should be given to Delhi. This will take care of the water shortage that the city faces every summer," said Mukesh Sharama, parliamentary secretary to the Delhi Chief Minister.

According to sources, the Haryana CM assured the delegation that Delhi will get its entire allocated share and the canal issue will be discussed at the chief ministerial level soon.

Delhi has been maintaining that it will earn 80 MGD additional water as savings from the Munak Canal of which 20 MGD will be used for the Dwarka plant. However, Haryana has never clearly agreed to this demand by the Delhi government.

According to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), raw water supply to the water treatment plants at Sonia Vihar and Bhagirathi remained curtailed affecting production on Friday as well.

However, after Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's intervention, Haryana came to the rescue and released additional water to the city.